The Great Accretion and the Great Depression
Working Paper 35816
DOI 10.3386/w35816
Issue Date
The Second Industrial Revolution sparked a wave of new products and industrial processes, fueling an optimistic Roaring Twenties. But did excitement about technological progress contribute to an over accumulation of investment, despite a slowdown in new product development and satiated demand during the 1920s? And, was this over investment worsened by continuous process innovation? Could these factors have played a role in triggering the Great Depression? To explore these questions, a macroeconomic model that incorporates both process and product innovation is proposed. Proof-of-concept simulations are performed to assess whether these factors can help explain the Great Depression. The answer is yes.
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Copy CitationHarold L. Cole, Stefano Cravero, and Jeremy Greenwood, "The Great Accretion and the Great Depression," NBER Working Paper 35816 (2026), https://doi.org/10.3386/w35816.Download Citation